God is GOOD!!!

You guys, I am completely blown away!  Last time I shared an update on our adoption costs we were $1315.00 in the red.  As of today, we are only $86 in the red!!!!  We only need $86 to pay for our homestudy!  Did I mention that GOD IS GOOD?!  I am tearing up just typing this.  There is no way we can thank you all enough for your support.  I have had so many friends jump at the opportunity to host a Thirty One party...thank you!  I asked my mom to help me test out our PayPal account by putting $1 in there and she put in $25...thank you!  One of my best girlfriends from high school and her husband generously donated $250...thank you!  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!  

Financial Update:

COSTS

Application fee:  $195.00

Homestudy application: $1000.00

Fingerprinting: FREE!  We were blessed by our local police station when they did our fingerprints for free after finding out we were adopting!  Praise Jesus for the little things.

Fingerprint processing: $100.00

Child Abuse and Neglect Report: $20.00

TOTAL (so far): -$1315.00

FUNDRAISING

Thirty One Commision: $954.00

Personal donations: $250.00

                                        $25.00

Fundraising TOTALS (so far): $1,229.00

Ending balance: -$86.00

If you are interested in hosting a Thirty One party, please let me know!  These are great bags and other organizing essentials at great prices, run through a Christian led company, and I get 25% commission on everything sold!  If you are interested in giving a direct donation, there is a PayPal link on the far right of this blog page.  Also, please keep reading this blog for information on an upcoming Christmas fundraiser that Kirby, Jaxon, and I are working on!  And again, from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!  Would you please continue to pray for our family and our fundraising endeavors?  

 

Little Guy's thoughts on adoption

Have you ever tried explaining ADOPTION to a 4 year old?  Let me tell you, it ain't easy!  I remember a ways back, before we had even ventured into the actual adoption process, asking a group of church friends who had adopted what their advice was in talking with their older children.  When do you start talking about it?  How do you explain how you will be getting a baby without it coming from Mommy's tummy?  How do you even begin to convey the immense love it takes for birth parents to choose you as the family to raise their baby?  So many questions...and to be honest, not a lot of good answers!  Here is a tiny glimpse into our experience...

Once we had begun the journey, we started talking to Jaxon about adoption.  A little bit here and there.  Bringing it gently into conversations.  "I wonder if God will bring us our next baby differently."  "Mom might not grow our next baby in her tummy."  "Our next baby might grow in another mommy's tummy but God might choose us to take care of the baby."  "Sometimes mommy's can't take care of their babies so they choose another family to take care of the baby and have the baby in their family.  That would be neat if we got to do that."  I thought we were doing a pretty good job and was silently patting my own back as Jax began to slowly start bringing those same thoughts into our conversations.  He really gets it, I thought, and he seems pretty excited about it!  And then one night he BURST INTO TEARS and shouted, "I DO NOT want to adopt our baby!"  I couldn't believe it and quickly asked him why not?  "I DO NOT want our Baby Hudson to go live with another family!  I love him TOO MUCH to let him go live with another family!"  My heart broke and I quickly realized that he didn't get it.  He thought when we said we were adopting our baby that meant we were going to give Hudson to a family that was waiting for a baby!  We talked, we assured him we were keeping our Baby Hudson, and we prayed and thanked God for giving us such big love for our family!  Now whenever we say we are adopting our next baby we get a quick and fervent shout from Jaxon, "We ARE NOT adopting our baby!  Someone else is going to have a baby and adopt it to our family!"  

Needless to say, explaining adoption to older children isn't easy!  I recently ordered some books off of Amazon and am hoping to use those to help a bit more.  Reading and talking about the story of baby Moses in the Bible was GREAT!  Any other tips on explaining such a tender subject to such a young mind?  I would love to hear them!  In the meantime, will you join us in praying for our sweet boys and their sweet baby brother or sister?  I pray that the fierce love they have for each other only grows and swells as they embrace a new baby!

31 Days to a Clutter Free Life!

If you know my husband and I, you would know we live life a little bit "fly by the seat of our pants!"  We usually have good intentions to have our lives organized and put together, but when push comes to shove things just start to spin out of control!  This school year has been no different.  I started back to work full-time, Kirby started a new full-time job (which is VERY different from what he was doing before!), both of the boys started with a new nanny full-time, Jax started preschool 3 days a week, and oh yeah...we moved into a new house! CRAAAAAAAAAAZY!!!!  

This week alone, I have forgotten my boys' breakfast in the refrigerator (2 days in a row!), forgotten picture day, and felt like every day is a perpetual Monday where I just can't get my act together.  So, I have decided to try out this 31 Days to a Clutter Free Life challenge from www.livingwellspendingless.com.  Anyone want to join me?  Yesterday was the first day where you just kind of get yourself prepared to become clutter free.  I'm ready for the challenge!

adoption costs

Ready for some real talk here?  Money is a STRUGGLE for me!  And I would even go as far to say that it is a struggle for our marriage (GASP).  The ways Kirby and I approach money and finances are pretty much as opposite as could be!  And, I am so glad God put us together to balance each other out.  The crazy amounts of anxiety I have, paired with his carefree "it will all be fine" attitude, seems to actually work for us!  Coming in to this adoption has been pretty humbling for us both and has stretched us both past what is comfortable.  Kirby has helped me to see how important it is, not to be carefree, but to TRUST that the LORD knows where that money will come from!  I have helped him to see the importance of knowing what costs are coming up and planning to budget for that as much as possible.

Adopting is expensive!  I plan to write a future blog that will help break down the costs and explain where all the money goes, but suffice it to say adoption is not cheap...and we are not rich!  Domestic infant adoptions typically cost anywhere from $20,000-$30,000 and while we are working diligently to save that money, we realize we will never be able to save that much in the amount of time we are expecting it to take to bring our baby home. So, we are humbly trusting God to help us raise that money through different endeavors.  As we continue to ask you to partner with us, we want to be open and honest about where we stand with our finances.  We want you to know exactly what you are helping us pay for as we go.   I also hope that this might someday serve as a help to other families saving to bring their own babies home.  So, here is the breakdown of where we are so far:

Application fee:  $195.00

Homestudy application: $1000.00

Fingerprinting: FREE!  We were blessed by our local police station when they did our fingerprints for free after finding out we were adopting!  Praise Jesus for the little things.

Fingerprint processing: $100.00

Child Abuse and Neglect Report: $20.00

TOTAL (so far): $1315.00

Fundraising totals (so far): $0

-$1315.00

Would you join us in praying?
1. for the finances of this adoption
2. for our marriage us we move through what it looks like to save this huge amount of money
3. for unexpected blessings
4. for the fundraising opportunities that are already in the works (be on the look out for a FUN Christmas fundraiser we have planned to roll out over the next couple months!)

Little Guy is 4!

I am a little late in posting this, but want to make sure to get it out here!

Four years ago, this sweet and spunky Little Guy made me a momma!  It had been the job I had been dreaming of since the early days of playing house with my baby dolls, but way harder and way more rewarding that I ever dreamed possible.  Jaxon came into our lives earlier than we had planned, but clearly the Lord knew what He was doing.  He has blessed (and challenged) our lives more than we ever could have imagined.  As we head into this 4th year, I pray that Jaxon continues to love people well.  If you know him at all, you know that there is not anyone he has met that he doesn't love!  Little Guy has never met a stranger and will make a new best friend anywhere we go--whethere that is another little boy, a college-aged girl, a grumpy old man, a friendly dog, or anything in between!  I pray that Jaxon embraces his intellect and love for learning.  He is a BRIGHT little guy and learning comes very naturally to him.  As he enters preschool, I hope he continues to love and find joy in learning new things.  I pray that Jaxon develops his strong will into something that moves mountains!  This kid knows what he wants!  At his young age, we see this come across in fits of rage and anger when he doesn't get what he wants.  Please Lord, teach him how to use the strong will you have given him in appropriate ways that impact those around him in positive ways.  Some other ways we would describe Jaxon--funny, playful, outgoing, sweet.  Thank you for blessing us with this sweet boy.  We love you, JAXON!!!

Beginning the homestudy...

Phase 1 of our homestudy is done!!!  I know it is only the beginning of a LOT MORE to come, but it is a start.  We sent our first batch of paperwork off...including what felt like EVERYTHING there ever was to know about each of us!  I know this is only the beginning, but it felt like a lot.  We made multiple calls to my parents and Kirby's dad to check on things like our siblings' ages, parents' ages, official occupations of family members, and where we were born.  Yep, that's right folks, Kirby wasn't sure where he was born!  Love ya, babe!  We also got to visit the police station to have our fingerprints taken.  I felt like a dork asking if we could take pictures, but we were so excited to be completing the first "official" thing we needed to get done for our adoption!  Join us in praying the paperwork is processed quickly and smoothly so we can be on our way to being put on the "active" list.

We are expecting...

...and believing and praying for the baby that God will bring our family through adoption!  Our family has recently made the decision to officially move forward with the plans of adopting our next baby and we could not be more excited!  The dream has been brewing in both Kirby and I from long before we even met each other and we are excited that God has chosen now as the time for us to pursue growing our family through adoption.  Join us as we journey towards bringing Baby LeMoine (#3) home!